What is the one practical, actionable strategy that has most effectively helped you prevent or manage burnout during the most demanding times of the school year?

I hate to say this but time management and a triage system of sorts. What has to be done now vs what would be nice to do. Keep my schedule and make sure I schedule time to reflect and go slow. I used to use lunch time as a prep and tutor session until I nearly burnt out. Sadly most of this comes with experience when I first started teaching I was still rereading essays to try and get the grading fair, "rubric can be vague when you don't know what you want." I was trying to do everything and I never said the word ,"no" to my admin. Now old and grizzled I know what needs to be done and I know what I can put off and, though it is hard, sometimes you have to when the admin says, "the students are having a gingerbread day on Tuesday right before grades are due would you mind taking time out of your prep to..." and interrupt with a hard, "NO."

I NEVER give up my lunch time for anything. No matter how hectic the day is, I need that time to eat and be with colleagues.

When burning the candle at both ends, remember if you break it in half, you'll have 2 more ends to light.

Color coded highlighted mtgs correlated to schools in the district, depending on that years assignment. Reed mtgs/mets/ieps in paper planner. Do one student observation the same day as the Reed parent signature and get all forms out to both parents and teacher. If I can stay on top of my Special Ed evaluations I’m doing well and will have time for students/crisis/parents. The most evaluations I had at one time was 19. 19 evaluations going at the same time. That was before the pandemic. Our department was so short staffed and we were so overworked. Oddly, I didn’t mind though.

Go out to eat for lunch when you can, or at least run out for a soda. A short car drive can help clear your head, for me anyway

I find that the old adage "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" applies here.

It takes a few years to get there, but I'm prepped so thoroughly heading into the last few weeks that my classes are basically on autopilot. This makes it easier to keep on top of grading and frees up time to spend on anything unexpected that comes up, good or bad.

I also have very firm boundaries. Once I'm home, I'm usually done thinking about school unless something urgent comes up.

For me it's all about preparation. I make sure all assignments and drop boxes are posted WELL ahead of time. Tests and other documents are ready to roll early. I set up my tests so that grading is as efficient as possible. Then I hold myself to a very high standard of keeping the gradebook up to date daily. Doing a this daily saves me from a huge pile of grading at those demanding times. If I can stay prepared, then stay up-to-date, I will avoid a TON of stress related to deadlines.

I remind myself of the good times and the positive impact I’ve had on students. I look for as many positive things I can.

Having a system, structure, and time window for all of the various types of tasks so that the students know the expectations and then teach the kids the first month or so and practice those expectations. How and when to submit assignments. When and when not to email me (This one includes how to compose an email, where you should have tried to find the answer, what your resolution options are). Exactly when you can see me outside of class (changed to two specific 10 minute windows per day). We talk things through as a class and then I post a detailed reference document on our LMS with the topic title. Purposefully teaching these systems and routines has actually given me time back and allowed me to be more flexible because of that extra time and lower stress level. Also instead of having a new document every day or so we have a rolling quarter document where each days activities, prompts, resources, videos, everything are linked under the day, title, etc.

A now-retired colleague’s doctor hand wrote her a prescription: “say ‘no’ 3x daily.”

I only experienced burn out after 29 years in education, and retired a few years ago. I am a structured person and made time management a priority. I prepped as much as I could ahead of time, and set up all class lists, attendance programs, gradebook, sub folder, IEP, GIEP, and 504 spreadsheets at the beginning of the year. I write what what we are doing in class for the day and stick to it. I used my plan to to work when I had to and not to “visit” with my colleagues. Grading was tough with essays, but I created and used rubrics as much as possible. I taught Literature, so I gave lots of small quizzes for a check to see if students read. Usually I gave these quizzes verbally and kids could give one or two words as answers so they took about 5 minutes to grade for each class. The Evals for sped kids slowed me down some, but I filled them out on line as soon as I got them with concise one or two word responses. All the above helped me to not feel stressed and I had a strict “no work at home” policy.

On a more emotional note… burn out is real. Any teacher who is feeling burn out early in their career really needs to find a management system that works for them. If that’s in place and you are still feeling burn out, I would consider another career path. I know having summers and holidays off are great, but the days, weeks, and months can be mighty long between summer breaks. There is no failure in leaving education if you hate the job. Life is short. Finding balance in any job is important. You work to make a living, not live to work. Being happy (for the most part) is one of the most important things you can do for you.

You can prevent burnout?